Fruit Scraps Used in Composting

Composting sends less trash to the curb and to the landfill, while producing a soil amendment that helps your garden thrive. Kitchen scraps, yard clippings and shredded paper can all go into the compost bin. Whether you should include fruits in your bin, particularly citrus fruits, depends on the type of composting that you do.

Backyard Composting

Backyard composting involves combining fresh "green" ingredients, or nitrogen-rich materials such as food scraps, with "brown" ingredients, or carbon-rich materials like dead leaves and shredded paper. The compost is placed in an open-air bin or simply piled in a corner of the yard. Over time, microorganisms break down the materials into soil organic matter (SOM). When using this composting method, all plant-based kitchen scraps are safe to add to your compost bin or pile, including all fruits. Fruit scraps count as green ingredients. For the best results, you should plan to include about twice as many brown ingredients as you do greens. (See References 1)

Vermicomposting

Apartment dwellers and homeowners without the space to compost outdoors often use a technique called vermicomposting, in which red wiggler earthworms break down food scraps into organic matter. Vermicomposting can be done indoors and requires very little space. However, because you are relying on earthworms, the vermicomposting bin should create a suitable environment for their survival. Earthworms don't perform well in a high-acid environment, so you'll need to be pickier about what you add to your worm bin than you would with a normal compost pile. Although some fruit scraps will serve them just fine, for best results limit or leave out highly acidic fruits like citrus. (See References 2)

Controlling Pests and Odors

Compost should not have an unpleasant odor and if you add too many fruit scraps or keep them too close to the top of the pile, it may start to stink or attract gnats, flies and other pests. Controlling these problems doesn't mean tossing your fruit scraps into the waste bin, though. Instead, bury fruit scraps several inches below existing compost and make sure that you have enough brown materials in the pile. (See References 3)

Fruit Composting Tips

Citrus fruits and melons often have tough peels and rinds, while stone fruits like peaches and plums have hard pits. In order to speed up the composting process, break up large additions to the pile, especially hard or tough materials. Cut rinds into small pieces before adding them. Leave out pits, seeds and other slow-to-decompose fruit parts unless you plan to give them the time to break down --- or don't mind finding them in your finished compost.